You Are Tearing Me Apart, Lisa! The Year's Work on The Room, the Worst Movie Ever Made

239 Pages·13.02 MB·English

by  Adam M. Rosen (editor)

YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, LISA!
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The Year’s Work:
Studies in Fan Culture and Cultural Theory
Edward P. Dallis-Comentale and Aaron Jaffe, series editors
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You Are Tearing
Me Apart, Lisa!
THE YEAR’S WORK ON
THE ROOM
,
THE WORST MOVIE
EVER MADE
EDITED BY ADAM M. ROSEN
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indiana university press ing
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This book is a publication of Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing Names: Rosen, Adam M., editor.
Herman B Wells Library 350 Title: You are tearing me apart, Lisa! : the
1320 East 10th Street year’s work on The room, the worst movie
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA ever made / edited by Adam M. Rosen.
Description: Bloomington, Indiana :
iupress.org Indiana University Press, [2022] |
Series: The year’s work: studies in fan
© 2022 by Indiana University Press culture and cultural theory | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
All rights reserved Identifiers: LCCN 2022003056 (print) | LCCN
No part of this book may be reproduced or 2022003057 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253062710
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic (hardback) | ISBN 9780253062727
or mechanical, including photocopying and (paperback) | ISBN 9780253062734 (ebook)
recording, or by any information storage and Subjects: LCSH: Room (Motion picture) |
retrieval system, without permission in writing LCGFT: Film criticism.
from the publisher. The paper used in this Classification: LCC PN1997.R57565 Y68 2022
publication meets the minimum requirements of (print) | LCC PN1997.R57565 (ebook) |
the American National Standard for Information DDC 791.43/72—dc23/eng/20220314
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed LC record available at https://
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. lccn.loc.gov/2022003056
LC ebook record available at https://
Manufactured in the lccn.loc.gov/2022003057
United States of America
First printing 2022
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To Lizzie, Benjamin, and Gabriel—you tear me apart.
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Where there is no vision, the people perish.
—Proverbs 29:18
How could this happen? We started out like
Romeo and Juliet but it ended up in tragedy.
—Milhouse Van Houten
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CONTENTS
· Acknowledgments · xiii
· Introduction Let’s Toss the Ball Around
Adam M. Rosen · 1
· Part I Cliché and Convention, Misapplied
1 Chris-R’s Gun: The Room as an Unconscious
Parody of Hollywood Film Conventions
Carter Soles · 17
2 Do You Understand Life? Do You?: Tommy Wiseau
and the Anti-method Acting Style
James Curnow · 28
3 “She Can’t Love Anyone”: The Evil Women
and Tormented Men of The Room
Lenika Cruz · 42
· Part II Unlocking The Room
4 Is The Room Worse than Vertigo? The Aesthetic
Philosophy of “So Bad It’s Good”
James MacDowell · 55
5 Everybody Betray Me!: Revenge, Reverse Revenge, R
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and Slave Morality in The Room n
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John Dyck · 64 ing
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